''Pholis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pholidae ''Pholidae'' is a family of marine ray-finned fishes, known as gunnels, in the scorpaeniform suborder Zoarcoidei. These are fishes of the littoral zone and are mainly found in North Pacific Ocean, with two species found in the North Atlantic Ocea ...

, the gunnels. These fishes are found in shallow coastal waters of the North Pacific, Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.

Taxonomy

''Pholis'' was first proposed as a genus in 1777 by the Italian naturalist

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and natural history, naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

was later designated to be ''Blennius gunnellus'', which Linnaeus had described in 1758 in the 10th edition of the ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. The genus is the only genus in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Pholinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Pholidae. The genus name ''Pholis'' is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

name for a fish that hides in a hole, the name dating at least as far back in history to

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

Species

''Pholis'' contains 11 species:

Characteristics

Philos species have the elongate, compressed bodies of other gunnels. They differ on that there is no interorbital pore and that the head lacks scales or has small scales which are only present in larger adults. These fishes vary in maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

varying from in ''P. nea'' and in ''P. picta''.

Distribution, habitat and biology

''Pholis'' gunnels are predominantly found in the temperate and boreal wasters of the North Pacific Ocean but ''P. fasciatus'' and ''P. gunnellus'' are found in the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans, the only gunnels to occur outside the Pacific Ocean. These fishes are found in rocky areas in the intertidal zone and in the shallow waters below the low tide mark. They feed on invertebrates and fish eggs. They are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

, laying eggs in a large mass which is guarded.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2704983 Pholidae Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli